


Romeo Everlasting

by LonelyThursday



Series: Newsies Everlasting [2]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Bittersweet, Canon Era, F/M, Faked Deaths, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Immortality, Influenza, M/M, Minor Character Death, Post-Canon, Self-Harm, They're immortal and theyre testing it, WWII, but not for typical reasons, real deaths, the great depression, theyre fine, wwi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25074463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyThursday/pseuds/LonelyThursday
Summary: 18 years after the strike is settled, Romeo realizes he isn't aging, and he's not the only one.Prequel to Spot Everlasting
Relationships: Jack Kelly/Katherine Plumber, Romeo & Smalls (Newsies), Romeo (Newsies)/Original Character(s), Romeo/Specs (Newsies)
Series: Newsies Everlasting [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815937
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	Romeo Everlasting

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *finishes Spot Everlasting*  
> Romeo: K do me now
> 
> TW for murder, and self-harm (for unusual reasons): Someone tries to murder Race with a knife, it doesn't work, and Race does a little bit of experimentation. not graphic  
> Also beware mentions of a Pandemic if that's something you have a hard time with (it's the 1918 influenza)

Romeo is 13 when the strike was settled. 

Romeo is 15 when Teddy Roosevelt becomes the president. 

Romeo is 19 when he marries Juliet Stanford. 

Romeo is 25 when the R.M.S Titanic sinks. 

Romeo is 30 when the U.S. joins The Great War. 

Romeo is 31 when he tries to enlist. 

Romeo is 31 when he realizes that he isn’t aging. 

He’s denied entry to the army on account of the recruiters being _convinced_ that he’s actually 16, and that all his documentation is faked. They send him home with a warning. 

“They’se right,” Juliet says when he tells her. “You ain’t aged a day since I met ya.”

Growing old is something that many people struggle with, but seeming to _not_ grow old at all? That’s too much for Romeo to wrap his head around. It’s impossible… right? He’s just aging well. He’s got a baby face, that’s gotta be it. Sure he never seemed to hit that last growth spurt, but he’s still taller than Spot Conlon. 

So Romeo writes it off as a fluke, of course he’s aging, there’s no other possibility. 

Until the next poker night. 

Lots of the Manhattan boys who were in the strike get together for poker night once a month, backstage at Medda Larkin’s theater. The crowd’s been thinning recently because of the war, but whatever fellas can come, do. 

This month, it’s Romeo, Tommy Boy, Race, Crutchie, Kid Blink, Ike, and Henry. Everyone else is gone for one reason or another (and more than Romeo would like to admit are already dead). 

Because of his recent mini-crisis, Romeo pays extra attention to the age the others are showing. Tommy Boy is completely bald, with his only hair being bushy eyebrows and an even bushier mustache. Kid Blink’s already going gray, Ike’s face is covered with lines, and Henry looks tired, the kind of tired that sinks down into the bones and never leaves again. 

But Race and Crutchie… it’s like time’s never touched them. 

Sure, they look tired, everyone does nowadays, but not in the same way Henry does. Their faces aren’t wrinkled the way the others’ are, and their hair is as thick and blond as either of them have ever been. 

They look like they came here straight from 1899. 

“Sorry, fellas, but it looks like I’se takin’ the pot again,” Race apologizes, not looking at all sorry. 

They don’t play with money, none of them have ever had that much, and instead bet whatever they can bring. Today, Henry brought pierogis from his deli, Ike brought some loose buttons, Race brought cigars that he probably filched, Tommy Boy brought penny candies, Romeo brought cookies, and Kid Blink, unable to find a better option, brought leaves. 

Crutchie actually _did_ bring money. It’s a well-known secret that Katherine, the only rich person any of them will ever know, always sends Jack or Crutchie over with a fair amount of money since none of the men will accept her charity without the facade. 

Despite winning the pot, Race divides it evenly among the players so that everyone gets a little bit of everything (except the leaves, which get left in a pile on the table). 

“There’s not a whole lot a us left,” Blink comments solemnly, unwrapping his candy slowly. 

“The war,” Ike answers simply. 

“I ain’t gonna be here next month,” Tommy Boy says. “I enlisted yesterday, I’m off ta boot camp soon.”

Everyone offers halfhearted congratulations. They don’t mean it. 

“Suppose everyone’s gonna be enlisting?” Race leans back in his chair as he lights his cigar. 

“I can’t,” Blink says, gesturing to his eyepatch as if everyone had forgotten. 

“Me neither,” Crutchie says. 

“I tried,” Romeo tells them. “But they thought I was a kid and told me to go home.”

“You do have a baby face,” Henry agrees, inspecting Romeo’s face carefully. 

“And you’se still pretty short,” Ike comments. 

“Well ain't nothin’ gonna fix that now,” Blink jokes. 

Conversation turns to different topics after that, but Romeo can feel Race watching him closely. 

As conversation winds down, the others leave, until it’s only Romeo, Race, and Crutchie left in the theater. 

“Ya do look pretty young,” Race comments. His tone is nonchalant, but his gaze is intense. 

“Juliet says she don’t think I’se aged since we met,” Romeo answers, tone just as light. “You’se two ain’t seemed ta, either.”

“‘S a blessin’ and a curse.”

They fall silent after that. A silence that slowly gnaws at Romeo’s insides and leaves him feeling cold. 

“What’s wrong with us?” Romeo asks quietly. 

“Remember, during the strike, when Katherine said we’d stay young forever?” Crutchie asks. 

“I… did-did she...?”

“Nah,” Race waves off Romeo’s concern. “Kath ain’t got nothin’ ta do wit’ it. Other than bein’ right.”

“Have we- I mean, are we the same as we were durin’ the strike?” Romeo asks. This is crazy, all of it, what Race and Crutchie are implying, and Romeo’s actually _believing_ it! What’s wrong with him?

“You’se a little older,” Crutchie says. “But I think I’se ‘bout the same.”

Race nods. “I was born in 1874.”

“But then you’d be… 43?” Romeo asks incredulously. He understands that they’re talking about immortality here, but just the thought that _Race_ \- who looks like he could anywhere between 15 and 23, and is supposed to be 34 - is _43!_

Race nods again, snatching an unclaimed cigar from the table. He doesn’t light it, just fiddles with it like he used to. 

“When I was… eh ‘bout 20, I was a newsie in Brooklyn, I ended it up rubbin’ a fella the wrong way and he stabbed me. He left me in an alley wit’ a knife in my gut, thinkin’ I was jus’ gonna bleed out, and I thought so too, but after a few minutes a bein’ in pain, I decided to pull the knife out. It came out covered in blood, but it didn’t leave a hole behind. I had been stabbed, I was bleedin’ out in an alley, but the knife didn’t leave a stab wound, and I weren’t bleedin’ no more. I didn’t die. 

“An’ I was curious a course, so I tried using the knife ta cut myself… nothin’ but some brief pain while the knife was actually digging into my flesh, but as soon as I removed it, I was healed. I tried stabbing myself in the heart. Same result; it hurt but when I pulled it out I was fine. 

“It freaked me out, so I ran. I don’t really remember how, but somehow I ended up runnin’ inta Jack Kelly. He explained everything he knew ta me, and brought me ta Manhattan. Been livin’ here ever since.”

“Jack’s immortal too!?”

“Yep,” Crutchie confirms. “Us, Jack, Medda, Spot Conlon, and Smalls from the Bronx.”

“Spot Conlon is immortal? Is that why he’s so short?”

Race snorts, loudly and unabashedly. “Nah, Spot’s short cuz he’s short. Ain’t nothin’ more to it.”

“Oh.”

Nothing much changes after that. Romeo tried cutting himself with a knife like Race did. It hurts while the knife is cutting him, but the pain - and the wound - goes away as soon as the knife does. 

He doesn’t tell Juliet. It sounds insane, she’d never believe him. 

He doesn’t know _what_ he’s going to do about her. Right now, she just thinks he’s got a baby face, and she makes fun of him for it, but eventually… eventually she’s going to notice that he’s not aging. Eventually she’ll be old, and he’ll still be looking like a teenager. Maybe if he faked his death...?

He starts getting invited to a secret monthly dinner at Jack and Katherine’s house. Jack is out fighting in the war, and so is Spot, but Race, Crutchie, Medda, Smalls, and Katherine are there. Katherine isn’t immortal, but Jack has explained everything to her. None of them knew how they had come across immortality, just that they eventually realized that they weren’t aging, or that they couldn’t get injured or sick anymore. They also knew that it wasn’t hereditary, as proven when Eliza, Jack and Katherine’s daughter, died a few years back of tuberculosis. 

Since they don’t know what caused the immortality, they don’t really know when anyone stopped aging, or how old they are physically, but as best they can figure, Medda stopped aging around 1800 around the age of 40, Jack in the late 1870’s or early 1880’s and is between 23 and 30, Race a little before he was stabbed in 1894, so he’s 20 or younger, Spot a little after that, between the ages of 17 and 21, Crutchie and Small right around the time of the strike, both between 18 and 20, and Romeo a few years later at 15 or 16. 

But Katherine seems to take everything in stride, and Romeo wonders - not for the first time - how Jack Kelly managed to get so lucky as to have a beautiful and smart woman like Katherine Pulitzer fall for a schmuck like him. She mourns the loss of her daughter, but doesn’t seem to mind her own mortality. 

The war continues, poker nights stop. 

The only people left are Romeo (still unable to enlist), Crutchie, and Kid Blink. Race left a few months after learning of Romeo’s immortality. The three of them start meeting at Jack and Katherine’s house instead. 

Juliet often comes with Romeo to these new meetups, and she and Katherine often spend the entire time discussing the suffrage movement. Sometimes, when Romeo watches the two women interact, he imagines telling Juliet. Maybe she would take it as well as Katherine has. 

Some of the boys start coming home from Europe. 

Some of them are missing limbs. All of them have a haunted look in their eye that terrifies Romeo, it’s so reminiscent of how kids looked when they came back from the Refuge. 

When Jack comes back, he doesn’t talk to anyone for two months. 

Tommy Boy never comes back. Neither do Mush, Jojo, Knobs, or Mike. 

Joseph Pulitzer had once said that war turned boys into men, but the war didn’t turn them into men, it turned them into shells. They came back as empty cans that once held Romeo’s best friends, but now only hold nightmares and regrets. 

Poker nights don’t start up again. 

Romeo loses Juliet to the Influenza early on. He never told her, and now he never can. 

Race and Spot return home in the middle of the pandemic, when New York is in the thick of it. 

Neither Jack, nor Spot ever question Romeo’s appearance at their monthly “family” dinners. It’s pretty obvious why he’s there, Romeo supposes. He’s a 32-year-old man who’s looking half his age. 

Medda is forced to sell her theater, they can’t put on shows because of the pandemic, and she can’t afford to keep it. She says it’s fine, that it’s about time for her to start a new life anyway. People would have been suspicious soon. 

Romeo wonders if he should start a new life. Now seems like a good time, if he stops coming in to work, people will assume he died from the flu. 

So many people are dying. Watching all your friends become old and die around you might be awful, but Romeo’s friends don’t get a chance to grow old. Between the war, the pandemic, and just plain poverty…

Katherine dies. 

It feels like the end of an era. The time of the newsboys who took on the World and won is over. The only ones still alive are the ones that are immortal, as well as a couple of Brooklyn kids that Spot keeps in touch with, and Henry, who doesn’t talk to anyone anymore, just puts all his time and energy into his deli. 

Jack leaves a week after Katherine’s death. He leaves the house to Crutchie, as well as leaving them all with a good chunk of Katherine’s fortune. 

No one begrudges Jack’s departure. He’s hurting, he deserves some time. Romeo figures he’s probably gone to Santa Fe, like he always talked about. 

Romeo fakes his death and moves in with Crutchie, and Smalls does the same. Medda was already living in the house, but Race and Spot choose to keep their apartment in Brooklyn for a little while longer. 

“It almost feels like the world’s ended,” Romeo says to Smalls one night when they’re both staying up way too late. 

“Nah, it ain’t ended,” she answers. “The world will keep on turnin’ like it always does, and humanity will keep on livin’ like _they_ always does, and we’ll be here to watch it all cuz we ain’t got no choice.”

“How long do you think we’ll live for?” It’s been a question gnawing away at his brain for months now. Ever since Juliet died. 

Smalls shrugs. She doesn’t have an answer, none of them do. 

In the mid 20’s, when the world seems to forget the awful tragedies it had recently suffered, Romeo and Smalls move into an apartment together in Brooklyn. They tell the neighbors that they’re married, but really, they’re here because Race swore up and down that the queer scene in Brooklyn was hopping. 

Being queer is something Romeo’s always known he was, at least on some level, but he’d also been attracted to girls, so he’d never tried to pursue it. But what are the laws of man when you’re immortal? You’re above them. There’s no punishment that man can conjure that an immortal can’t endure. No one can beat Romeo to death, they can’t hang him, if they arrest him, they’ll have to let him out eventually. And if man’s laws don’t apply, why not enjoy yourself as much as you can?

Jack starts sending letters eight years after Katherine’s death. He’s in Santa Fe. 

During the Great Depression, Romeo learns his limits when it comes to starvation. It’s not the first time he’s gone hungry, but when you’re a mortal, going hungry too long can kill you. That’s not the case for immortals. Food is fuel, and while it might not be necessary for him to _live_ , it is necessary for him to be able to _do_ anything. Crutchie still has a lot of the money Jack left him, but neither Romeo or Smalls want to ask him for help unless they absolutely have to. Sometimes they have to. 

Medda, Spot and Race had moved to Chicago a few years prior. They send letters. 

Jack’s letters become more sporadic. He moves around a lot nowadays, but he’s always in the West. 

In spring, 1934, Romeo meets Specs. Specs is everything Romeo hadn’t even realized that he wanted: smart, kind, witty. He towers over Romeo and Smalls, but he never seems imposing. 

Romeo had cared about Juliet, of course he had. He and Juliet had been a couple worthy of their namesakes. He had been in love with her since his first laid eyes on her. Her parents hated him, and his parents… well they had been dead for over ten years at that point. 

Still, the classic Shakespeare characters had been together for four days. Romeo and his wife had been together for 17 years, so obviously they were a better love story. 

But his relationship with Juliet had become strained towards the end, something that tends to happen when there’s a war going on, and a pandemic, and you don’t tell your wife you’re immortal. 

His relationship with Specs isn’t strained. They do everything together, usually with Smalls present to keep up pretenses. And for once in his life, Romeo feels like he’s being honest with himself. 

A year after meeting Specs, the three of them move into a two-bedroom apartment. The neighbors think Specs has one room, and Romeo and Smalls the other. The neighbors don’t need to know. 

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Romeo assures Specs for the fifth time today alone. After over a year of dating, Romeo finally told Specs about the whole immortality thing - he’d been skeptical at first, but Romeo and Smalls had eventually convinced him - and today was the first time Specs was coming with them to monthly family dinner. 

Granted, that currently just meant eating dinner with Crutchie, but it’s the principle of the thing. 

“Ro, it’s fine,” Specs answers, just like the other four times. “I can’t wait to meet your family.”

“It’s not really our family,” Smalls butts in, letting herself into Romeo and Specs’ room without a care. “It’s just the two of us and Crutchie in New York right now, and Crutchie is, by far, the nicest one of us.”

“Well I still look forward to meeting him.”

Crutchie’s clearly waiting for them at the door, as he opens it right after they knock. Romeo feels bad for, Jack took off nearly two decades ago, Romeo and Smalls got an apartment together, Race, Spot, and Medda all moved to a new city together, and Crutchie’s been here. Alone. In the house that Katherine died in. 

“You must be Specs!” Crutchie says before Romeo’s thoughts can go too dark. “Romeo and Smalls have told me so much about you.”

“They’ve told me so much about you,” Specs starts to offer his right hand for a shake, but quickly corrects to offer his left hand instead. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Crutchie.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, come in.”

Crutchie leads them all to the dining room. Specs tries to help set the table, but Crutchie has none of it, insisting he sit down while also ordering Romeo and Smalls to set the table and bring the stew in from the kitchen. They’re all about to sit down to eat when the doorbell rings. 

“I’ll get it,” Smalls says, shooting to her feet before Crutchie has a chance. 

She disappears out of the room, and a few seconds later, the door opens. They can hear her talking to whoever is at the door from down the hall, but they can’t hear what’s being said. 

Smalls continues to talk to the person at the door for another minute, then the door closes. Two pairs of footsteps come up the hallway. 

“Look what the cat dragged in!” Smalls exclaims, stepping back into the dining room. 

Followed by Jack Kelly. 

“JACK!” Crutchie yells, nearly falling out of his seat in his rush to get up. 

Jack envelopes Crutchie in a hug as soon as he’s close enough. “Hey, Crutch. ‘M sorry ‘bout leavin’ like that.”

Crutchie just sobs. 

“It’s okay, Jack,” Romeo says for him. “We all understand that you needed some time. We gots lots a it anyway.”

Jack smiles at Romeo and then seems to notice Specs for the first time. 

“Who’s this?” He asks, jerking his chin in Specs’ direction. 

“This is Specs, my fella,” Romeo introduces. 

“Yeah? Is he… ya know?”

“I’m not immortal, sir, but Romeo has explained your family’s… situation to me.” Specs answers the unasked question. 

“You don’t have to call him ‘sir’, he ain’t my pops,” Romeo practically whines. 

“Hey don’t talk ta ya father like that!” Jack scolds playfully. “I oughtta send ya ta ya room wit’out supper, then what smart guy?”

Any remaining tension in the room fades and everyone laughs. 

It’s good to have Jack back. 

Spot comes home three days later. He didn’t know Jack was back, he’d just run into some trouble with the Chicago mob, and decided to cut his losses before they tried (and failed) to off him. 

Strangely, if you asked Romeo who was most likely to piss off the mob, he would have said Race. Spot was relatively low on the list considering he’s the best at thinking through rash thoughts. Crutchie’s at the bottom of the list, he’d probably endear the mob to him and have them doing whatever he wants. 

Race’s next letter is short. 

_Dear Family,_   
_Spot has died. He was a bastard and shan’t be missed._   
_Congratulations on the twins. You should name them after our Father, Jackibeth Seanebelle Dumbass_   
_Yours sincerely and most cordially,_   
_Anthony Fuckface._

Crutchie has the letter framed. 

Medda and Race return to New York in 1939, wary of the war in Europe. 

“We were _just_ over there, weren’t we?” Spot complains. 

“Hey, Specs,” Jack says, cutting off Spot’s rant of European politics. “You fight in the last war?”

“No, sir.” For some reason, Specs is always addressing Jack like he’s Romeo’s father. Maybe it’s because Jack looks the oldest (after Medda), or maybe he can just tell that Jack is older than the rest of them (other than Medda). “I was three when America entered the last war.”

“We’re so _old!”_ Race laments loudly. He whines for the rest of the day about being ancient

Henry dies in 1940, the last newsies from the strike.

His funeral is nice. His wife, four kids, and six grandkids are in attendance.

Romeo, Jack, Crutchie, and Race watch from a respectful distance. They weren’t invited. They’re already dead.

The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. 

Spot enlists immediately. 

Then Specs gets drafted. 

Then Jack enlists. 

Then Smalls joins the WAAC. 

Then Race joins the OSS. 

Finally, the army is desperate enough that they ignore how young Romeo looks. 

War is hell. 

Specs doesn’t come home. 

Spot, Jack, Smalls Race, and Romeo all die in the line of duty. It’s time to start over again.

**Author's Note:**

> How did they become immortal? I dunno
> 
> I couldn't resist giving Romeo a wife named Juliet.  
> Hopefully this was good
> 
> Stay safe  
> wear a mask  
> the pandemic isn't over  
> you're doing so well  
> i'm so proud of you  
> take care of your mental health  
> don't be a dick


End file.
